Cathay group volumes soar 12pc reflecting strength of world air cargo markets

CATHAY Pacific and Cathay Dragon carried a combined 187,545 tonnes of cargo and mail in November, an increase of 4.8 per cent year on year.
The cargo and mail load factor in November rose by 3.5 percentage points to 71.6 per cent. Capacity measured in available cargo/mail tonne kilometres was up 5.9 per cent while cargo and mail revenue tonne kilometres (RTKs) increased by 11.2 per cent year on year.
In the first 11 months of the year tonnage increased by 11.0 per cent against a 3.4 per cent increase in capacity and an 8.9 per cent increase in RTKs, a statement from Cathay said.
Cathay Pacific director commercial and cargo Ronald Lam said: "In terms of cargo, our high year-on-year tonnage growth reflects the overall strength in the world's air cargo markets. E-commerce related movements were boosted by events such as Chinese Singles' Day, which helped to even out the traditional dip in demand following the Thanksgiving holiday, and we saw high load factors and improving yields.
"We broke our weekly tonnage uplift record in the week starting 26 November, while a number of key markets across our network also established new revenue records during the month. The outlook remains positive and is expected to carry through until Christmas."
The group's airlines carried a total of 2.84 passengers in November ?an increase of 7.9 per cent compared to the same month last year.
The passenger load factor increased 0.1 percentage points to 83.6 per cent, while capacity, measured in available seat kilometres (ASKs), increased by 6.4 per cent. In the first eleven months of 2017, the number of passenger carried increased by 1.3 per cent to 31.77 million while capacity rose by 2.7 per cent.
"Passenger revenue in November continued its recent upward trend. Helped by increased capacity compared to the same period in 2016, when there were authority-imposed flight reductions in Hong Kong, we saw improvements in frontend volumes, which spurred yield growth," Mr Lam added.